Steve Yates (footballer, born 1970)

Yates began his footballing career as a YTS trainee at Bristol Rovers in 1986. In seven years with his home town club he played 197 games without scoring any goals.[2]

When manager Gerry Francis moved to Queens Park Rangers from Bristol Rovers in 1993, a number of Rovers players later followed him to the London club. Yates was one of these, when he joined in August 1993. He made his debut that month against Liverpool. Yates played 134 league games for Queens Park Rangers and scored 2 goals before transferring to Tranmere Rovers in 1999.

Yates was a cult hero at Tranmere, and is best remembered for scoring two goals in a Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park when Tranmere beat the Premier League outfit 3–0 in the 2000-01 FA Cup.[3] That same season he also scored one of the goals as Tranmere knocked Leeds United out of the League Cup.[4] Yates remained with the club until 2002 when he transferred to Sheffield United. Whilst at Tranmere he played in the 2000 Football League Cup Final, coming on as a substitute in the final against Leicester City.

Yates joined Huddersfield in 2003 on a free after a successful trial period. He was also Peter Jackson's first signing as Huddersfield's manager for the second time. He scored his only goal for Huddersfield against Leyton Orient.[5] During a fixture with Carlisle United Yates had a bust-up in the tunnel at the Galpharm Stadium with opposing player Richie Foran which resulted in red cards for both players and Yates losing a front tooth.

Yates decided to retire in mid-2005.

Yates came out of retirement in January 2006 to play just 1 game for Scarborough. He then transferred to Halifax Town where he played 3 games and left at the end of the 2005–2006 season.

In May 2006, Morecambe snapped Yates up on a free transfer and played 8 games for the Shrimps. Soccerbase incorrectly state that Yates played 44 games and scored 2 goals during the 2006–2007 season but research has shown that Yates signed for Caernarfon Town in September 2006 by his ex-playing colleague Kenny Irons.

Yates played only two games for Caernarfon Town. The rest of his spell at the club he was sidelined with injury.

Yates returned to Bristol Rovers in July 2013 as kit man and a year later combined that role with coaching. In his first season as defensive coach, Rovers gained promotion from the Conference.